Ending weeks of speculation, the craft brewer Beavertown, founded by Logan Plant, the son of Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, announced on 21 June 2018 that Heineken has acquired a minority stake.

Is this political activism? The pub chain JD Wetherspoon, known for its affordable drinks selection, is to sell more drinks from the UK and non-EU producers. In particular, it will replace French champagne and German beers in the run-up to Brexit. The switch will affect all 880 Wetherspoon pubs from 9 July 2018.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has predicted that England fans will drink 14 million extra pints (80,000 hl) at the pub during the World Cup group stages.

The Dutch brewing group Bavaria has changed its name to Swinkels Family Brewers to better reflect its product range, the family-owned firm said. “We are more than Bavaria”, Chairman Jan-Renier Swinkels said. Next year Swinkels will celebrate its 300th anniversary.

On 12 June 2018, one day before the start of the German beer cartel trial in Düsseldorf, the German Radeberger Group withdrew its objections to the fine imposed on the brewer by the Federal Cartel Office.

Beer promoters without their own brewery have been called various names: from beer firms, gypsies and virtuals to cuckoos, imposters, pseudos and fakes. The connotations attached to each name, ranging from the neutral to the pejorative, are far from accidental.

When is Netflix turning VJ Mallya’s colourful life into a TV series? The script could run to several seasons. The most recent development in the convoluted plot saw Mr Mallya step down as director of his Force India Formula 1 team at the end of May 2018.

If you were to cross Eataly with Denver’s Wynkoop brewery you will get – at least conceptually – LaM.U, La Manufacture Urbaine, a café-restaurant with a brewery, bakery and coffee roaster, which opened its doors in the Belgian city of Charleroi, south of Brussels, last year.

Per Me una Birra Artigianale

Beer in Italy | When it comes to fashion, Italians go for the new and ultra-modern. Same with craft beer. Consumers tend to be on the look-out for the next big thing and craft brewers comply with imagination and experimentation. How come that the Big Brewers’ own craft beer offerings embrace a retro sentimentality for an imagined era when men were men and life was full of little wonders?

Jupiler may be Belgium’s major pils brand, but its new packaging, which it is hoped will boost sales during the FIFA World Cup, still raised a few eyebrows. Now, “Belgium” figures larger on the packaging than the brand’s name; actually, the name Jupiler does not appear on the front label.